The SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) recently analyzed XBRL exhibits submitted by issuers complying with the 2009 Interactive Data rules to file financial statement information in an XBRL format. The purpose of the analysis was to determine if IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) filers were being consistent with their use of custom tags with US-GAAP (US Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) filers during this first year of required XBRL filings.
This analysis covered:
- Custom tags in the primary financial statements of 2017 XBRL exhibits submitted for Forms 20-F, 20-F/A, 40-F, and 40-F/A reported in IFRS (issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)) and
- Custom tags in the primary financial statements of 2011 and 2017 XBRL exhibits submitted for Forms 10-K and 10-K/A reported in US-GAAP.
The custom tags in the analysis included all non-member and non-abstract elements. DERA found that the custom tag rate of IFRS filers is higher than that of other filers. IFRS filers had a custom tag rate of 16% in 2017. US-GAAP filers, on the other hand, had a custom tag rate of 9% in 2017. Additionally, in the first year of full compliance by all US-GAAP filers (2011), these filers produced a custom tag rate of 11%.
The SEC allows filers to create custom tags when the standard taxonomy does not contain a tag necessary to express or represent a financial element within their report. This customization allows filers to tag information unique to their particular reports, but it also can create differences in the structured tagging between reports, thus reducing comparability of inter-company data. The SEC therefore specifies limited circumstances under which a filer may create a custom tag. DERA will continue to review filers’ use of XBRL in their submissions and, should those results warrant it, share additional analyses, issue guidance, or pursue other actions as necessary.
DERA welcomes feedback from the public via telephone (202 551-5494) or through email (StructuredData@sec.gov).
Sources:
Trend Analysis 2018 (www.sec.gov)
Trend Analysis 2017 (www.sec.gov)
Trend Analysis 2016 (www.sec.gov)
Announcement: Staff Observations of Custom Tag Rates (www.sec.gov)
